The invention relates to an amplifier arrangement comprising an input and an output, first and second transistors of the same conductivity type whose base electrodes are interconnected, the emitter electrode of the first transistor being connected to the input, the emitter of the second transistor being connected to a first common point via a first resistor, the collector of the first transistor being connected to a quiescent-current source, and the collector of the second transistor being connected to the output and, via a second resistor, to a power-supply terminal.
Such an amplifier arrangement is inter alia employed in SOAR protection circuits in integrated power amplifiers, as is described in "Neues aus der Technik," No. 3, 1977, article number 406, page 4.
In this circuit arrangement a voltage which is a measure of the current, voltage and/or power load of an output transistor in the power amplifier is applied to the input. The amplifier circuit is then proportioned so that at the critical point, i.e. the point at which the protection circuit should be actuated, the voltage across the first resistor is equal to the voltage at said input. The combination of the first and the second transistor operate as a current mirror with the first transistor connected as a diode. At this point a current equal to the current supplied by the quiescent current source will flow through the first resistor and produce a voltage across said resistor to which a circuit can respond which limits the drive of said protected output transistor.
Especially in an integrated circuit with p-type substrate, which is generally employed in practice, when the first and second transistors are pnp-transistors they will be of the lateral type so that they will have a comparatively low current gain factor, which is moreover subject to a substantial spread owing to process variations. As a result of this, the collector current of the second transistor at said actuating point will not be equal to the collector current of the first transistor and will be greatly dependent on process variation so that the point at which the protection circuit is actuated is subject to a substantial spread. This is highly undesirable because, in order to obtain a maximum output power of an integrated circuit, the protection circuit of the output transistor should not be actuated until an extreme value is reached.